Tribal Council Approves December Per Capita Payment

The Hoopa Valley Tribal Council held a farewell gathering for their executive secretary of 18 years, Darcy Miller. Miller will move to a new job in the Human Resources (HR) Department./Photo by Kristan Korns, Two Rivers Tribune.

By KRISTAN KORNS, Two Rivers Tribune

The Hoopa Valley Tribal Council approved a per capita payment of approximately $180 during their regular Council meeting on Thursday, November 6.

Payments for members under 18 years old will be split, with one half going into their Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts, and the other half going to their parents or guardians.

The per capita payments will be paid out on December 11, with an enrollment cut-off of December 6. A total of $579,669 will be divided equally among the tribal membership.

Tribal Chairperson Danielle Vigil-Masten said, “This is based on revenue generated over the past two years from the Lucky Bear Casino and the Mini Mart.”

The Council approved a large number of motions on their consent calendar, including an authorization for $45,000 to assist eligible families in the Tribal Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) program with school clothing necessities and $7,000 to complete holiday food baskets.

Kerry Venegas, the Education Department director, reported that the outside audit of Child Development had five findings, all five of which have been corrected.

Vigil-Masten, along with Council members Marjorie Colegrove and Ollie Mae Davis, reported that meetings on ambulance service funding with the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors were a success.

“We went to the Board of Supervisors and we were able to land $200,000 for the ambulance,” Vigil-Masten said. [See related story on page 4]

Zo Devine, from Humboldt State University (HSU), reported that local tribal language materials – including many hundreds of hours of video and audio recordings of the Hupa language prepared by Dr. Ruth Bennett – were transferred to the HSU library.

“It’s turned into a special collection. People will be able to find it and look at it for the first time in 50 years,” Devine said. “Susan Greer, the Karuk linguist, will finish the cataloging work.”

The Council voted to reappoint William “Injun Bill” Carpenter to another term as Sergeant-at-Arms, and to close the Youth Center in the Neighborhood Facilities (NF) building temporarily while renovations are completed.

“We’re cleaning up the Youth Center,” Vigil-Masten said. The Youth Center’s employees will work at the NF gymnasium during the renovations.

Council members also voted to appoint Judith Surber as the Council’s new executive secretary, replacing Darcy Miller who held the post for close to 18 years. Miller will move to a new job in the Human Resources (HR) Department.

Vigil-Masten said, “Thank you for your 18 years of service.”

Councilmember Wendy “Poppy” George said, “As time goes on we grow and expand and you move on to do more for the community. This new job is very important and she’ll work towards making everything more fair for everyone.”